Bring your family and friends for a fun-filled day at the YCBA on Saturday, February 11th from 10:30am-1:30pm! We’ll have storytelling by Tom Lee, dramatic performances by Mystic Paper Beasts, and Celtic music by Ringrose & Freeman, along with gallery activities and artmaking.

November’s Exploring Artism is THIS week-end, on Saturday November 19th from 10:30am-noon. Please make sure you register by emailing ycba.education@yale.edu or calling 203.432.2858 for more information or to register. We can’t wait to see you at the Center!

For the Oct. 15 Exploring Artism, The Center’s September 17 Exploring Artism focused on all types of boats and how they interact with each other on the high seas. We returned to the Center’s Special Exhibition Spreading Canvas: Eighteenth-Century British Marine Painting in order to see how boats interacted on the high seas.

First, everyone met in the Docent Room to look at pictures of different types of boats. Participants shared stories and create our very own sea-scape. We used sponges to cover a very large piece of paper with blue paint, then set it aside to dry so we could use it later.

After painting, we used wooden pieces to make boats. We decorated our boats using markers and stickers. Some boats had wires and strings coming off of them so that they could catch fish while out at sea.

Then we took our boats upstairs to look at Willem Van De Velde the Younger’s Sea Battle of the Anglo-Dutch Wars. We discussed what we saw going on in the painting. We saw that there was a lot of smoke and flags, so we thought about what the smoke could be coming from and why the flags were important. After that, we placed our wooden boats on top of the big blue piece of paper we had painted earlier, which had dried and been laid out on the gallery floor by our great volunteers. While the volunteers used iPads to play ocean and cannon noises, we added cut-outs of other ships to the scene and moved our own wooden boats around.

Finally, we went back down to the Docent Room to present our boats to everyone else. After that we cleaned up and went home!

Saturday, October 15 is on its way and we want to remind you to register for the Center’s Exploring Artism program from 10:30am-noon. Please email ycba.education@yale.edu or phone 203.432.2858 for more information or to register. We can’t wait to see you at the Center!

Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg’s oil painting, The Glorious Defeat of the Spanish Armada.

The Center’s September 17 Exploring Artism focused on all types of boats and how they interact with each other on the high seas. We looked at paintings from the Center’s Special Exhibition Spreading Canvas: Eighteenth-Century British Marine Painting and used what we learned to build and decorate our own model boats.

First, everyone met in the Docent Room to look at pictures of different types of boats. Participants shared stories and experiences they have had on sailboats, canoes, rowboats and motorboats. We also discussed what other things one might find on a large boat, like cannons and flags!

Looking at de Loutherbourg’s large oil painting

Next we went upstairs to look at Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg’s oil painting, The Glorious Defeat of the Spanish Armada. In this painting, we saw a number of large ships very close together, lots of people on smaller rowboats and a large fire! Using what we saw in the painting, we discussed the different reasons two ships might sail that close to one another, and why one of the ships was on fire. We also talked about the meaning of the flags we saw at the top of the ships and how important it is for ships to use those flags to tell other ships where they’re from.

Creating a sequence of events from the painting.

After looking at the painting, we went downstairs to build our own boats! Using small wooden pieces that fit into one another, participants were able to create boats that could then “sail” around the sea we had drawn on the table.

While the needs of individuals with autism are taken into account for the design of this program, it is also intended to be fun for parents, siblings, and other relatives too! Preregistration is required.

The June 18 Exploring Artism focused on a new art form – designing and painting a flower pot! Participants learned about the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual Chelsea Flower Show and saw a lot of pictures of flower creations. Next we learned that the flower show inspired an art gallery owner to ask 58 artists to paint a flower pot. The Center has the flower pot that John Craxton painted and we looked at it together in the galleries.

Participant designing his flower pot.

First, everyone looked at John Craxton’s Goats and Flowers painting and discussed the colors and shapes. We then looked at Craxton’s Cretan Cats Flower Pot where they found and learned about kri-kri, cretan cats, and the island of Crete, the island where Craxton was living at the time he painted the flower pot.

Inspired by Crete’s wildlife as seen in Craxton’s works, everyone painted their very own flowerpot.

Kri-kri is a type of wild goat that lives on the island of Crete.Cretan wildcats live on the island and are not friendly with people.

As well as where Crete is located and what plants grow there:

Map of Crete

The next Exploring Artism at the YCBA is schedule for Saturday, Sept. 17. We hope everyone has a fun and relaxing summer!